Me and Pocket Novels


What are Pocket Novels?


Pocket novels are traditional romances published by DC Thompson, a Scotland based publisher. There are My Weekly Pocket Novels, which are 50k words, and The People’s Friend Pocket Novels which (at the time of writing) are 42k words.


They’re very popular with a readership who like to hark back to more innocent days, and whilst the stories may seem a bit rose-coloured, that’s what the readers like.


Maggie Seed at My Weekly Pocket Novels isn’t averse to a bit of skulduggery and murder in stories, but think in terms of cosy crime, like Agatha Christie and Inspector Morse.



Tracey Steel at The People’s Friend tends more towards family sagas set in a bygone age, though not all the novels have to be set in the past.

At the time of writing the publisher pays £300 per novel, which may not sound much, but once it’s been published, you may sell it on to large print publishers Ulverscroft and then claim Public Lending Rights.

It’s a good idea to read a few and get a feel for the tone, but Maggie and Tracey are both very approachable and always happy to advise writers about their particular story needs.
You can find out more about Pocket Novels from:

How did I get into Pocket Novels?

Whilst I’d written a few practice (i.e. really bad) novels, my main success as a writer came from short stories. I’ve had stories published in women’s magazines in Britain and abroad. But in 2008, I decided I wanted to try something different. I was not sure about writing a 100k novel, as it seemed an insurmountable task. But at that time, My Weekly Pocket Novels were only 30k long, and that seemed an easy gap to bridge from short stories. So I did some research, to get an idea of the genre, then wrote The Secret of Helena’s Bay which was a romantic intrigue story despite me not finding any like that in my research (I’m not suggesting I was the first to write romantic intrigue for DC Thompson. I just hadn’t found any in my research). So it was a bit of a leap of faith. Imagine my thrill when Maggie Seed wrote back saying that she liked it! Since then I have written 12 pocket novels for DC Thompson. 10 were for My Weekly Pocket Novels, 1 for The People’s Friend and 1 for the sadly short-lived Easy Reads series also published by DC Thompson.

They are (roughly in order of publication)

(nb: MW PN = My Weekly Pocket Novels. PF PN = People’s Friend Pocket Novels)

The Secret of Helena’s Bay (MW PN)

My True Companion (MW PN)

Bella’s Vineyard (MW PN)

A Collector of Hearts (MW PN)

Sunlit Secrets (MW PN)

Imitation of Love (MW PN)

Mistletoe Mystery (MW PN)

Bonfire Memories (Easy Reads)

Midnight Train (MW PN)

Take My Breath Away (MW PN)

Our Day Will Come (PF PN)

The Last Dance (Bobbie Blandford 1) (MW PN)

Runaway (Bobbie Blandford 2) - (MW PN )


The Dark Marshes - (MW PN tba)


Big Girls Don't Cry (Bobbie Blandford 3) - (MW PN tba)

Eye of the Storm (MW PN 2016)
The Perils of Polly (MW PN 2021)

All the books are, or will eventually be (depending on when you’re reading this), available in Large Print and on Kindle.



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